"Gender Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Process 4

To read about gender terminology and why gender is a spectrum, visit this blog post. To read about the idea behind this colored pencil drawing and an explanation for the symbolism of the specific flowers used, check out this one.

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My new 19"x25" colored pencil drawing has already been sketched out onto black paper - meaning that it's now time to start adding in details and layering up the color!

I did this step-by-step, focusing on one plant at a time (out of the two dozen total plants). Today's post will share pictures of the first six flowers I worked on in this way, building up layers of colored pencil to add detail and dimensionality.

I started on the left side of the drawing, where the eight pink flowers are. First, I colored in the hollyhock on the far left. For the petals I used white, two shades of light pink, a darker magenta pink, and red and brown pencils for the shadows. I used three shades of green for the stem and leaves.

Next, I worked on the pink geraniums. I used two shades of light pink, magenta, and red for the petals, and then two shades of green on the leaves.

I moved on to the light pink lupine flowers next. I used a light yellow-green, white, two tints of light pink, light peach, and magenta colored pencils.

Next to the lupine flowers are the hibiscus, with similar hues. I used white, light peach, light pink, magenta, red, and two shades of green.

From the light pink flowers, I moved on to the dark pink ones. Here is the snapdragon, created using three shades of green, two shades of red, and light pink and magenta pencils.

For the dahlia bloom, I used two shades of green, a light pink pencil, a reddish pink pencil, a dark red, and a dark purple.

Here is the whole drawing so far, with the first six flowers completed:

Check back tomorrow for step-by-step photos of the next six flowers! 

"Gender Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 3

To read about gender terminology and why gender is a spectrum, visit this blog post. To read about the idea behind this colored pencil drawing and an explanation for the symbolism of the specific flowers used, check out this one.

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In yesterday's post, I showed how I sketched in the first dozen flowers. Today I'll focus on the last dozen.

Keep in mind that this is just the first layer - the lightly sketching in of each plant, so that I can get the whole drawing down on paper. Then, I will go through and work individually more on each flower, building up layers of color, dimensionality, and detail.

I had four pink flowers still to draw, so I tackled those first. Here are the geraniums and hollyhock:

I next did the last two pink flowers - the dark pink/almost red dahlia, and a couple stalks of snapdragon flowers, in a similar color scheme.

Over to the right of the purple flowers, I added the two pale blue flowers - lithodora and sweet pea.

Next, I sketched in the blue anemone flowers and a bunch of blue azalea.

At the bottom of the bouquet, near the dark purple pansies, I drew in a blue hydrangea plant and a trio of blue cornflowers (aka bachelor buttons).

Finally, I sketched in the dark blue lotus and delphinium.

Here is the first layer finished. You can see how I plan to get the whole spectrum of color between pink (dark and pale pink) and blue (dark and pale blue), with plenty of purple (again, dark and pale purple) in between.

As with my "Race Bouquet," I also added in a vase for the flowers to set in. I added handles to this vase, so it's more of a glass urn or pitcher than the vase in the previous drawing.

I used 13 colors just to get the preliminary sketch down. More colors will be used as I start building up more colors! Check back for future posts to see how this drawing progresses.

Notecards (Cloud Atlas Sextet Paintings)

As I've mentioned several times, I've been meaning to make prints of some of my colored pencil drawings and paintings for quite awhile. Well, this weekend I finally got around to doing so! All of my artwork is scanned in at 600 dpi to my computer, making it easy to choose just the one I want, scale it down to fit onto a notecard, and print on my HP printer.

I made three "sets" available on Etsy, which I will print on demand when I have an order come in. Today I would like to go through the photos of the first set, a set of six designs that use my recent six "Cloud Atlas" inspired acrylic paintings as the featured artwork.

The blank notecards are available for purchase here.

Here are the cards as they are printed, before they are folded:

The cardstock they are printed on is a strong enough quality that the cards hold up/stand up very well on their own.

I also have matching white envelopes (A2 size - 4 3/8" x 5 3/4") that go with the cards:

The backs of each list the title, date, medium, and size of the original artwork. In this case, they were 8"x10" acrylic paintings on paper, which I completed in May 2016. Under the artwork information is my personal information - my digital signature, my website/blog info, and my social media info.

Here are some close-ups of "This Busted World" - one of the card designs in this set:

The insides of all cards are blank, making them perfect for letter writing or cards for a variety of occasions.

I've decided to sell the cards at $2.00 individually, or $1.75 each when packaged as a set. So this set of six cards (one card of each design) is priced at $10.50 on Etsy. They are available for purchase here.

For more information on the original paintings featured on these cards, just search the "Cloud Atlas" tag on this blog.

The original paintings are also available for purchase on Etsy:

- This Busted World (Black Eyed Susans)

- Toppling Dominoes (Coneflowers)

- The Eyes of Friends (Impatiens)

- An Infinite Matryoshka Doll (Phlox)

- Truths & Mistruths (Snapdragons)

- A Spent Firework (Sunflowers)